Fascinating explorations of choir and group singing in all shapes and sizes
So last night (25 March 2025) we had our first attempt at learning the transcription of the Kecak
This simplified transcription of the Balinese 'Monkey Dance' immitates the chattering of mischeivous monkeys and is a really good exercise in using the voice for accurate percussive rhythm.
Here is an extract of our first go at the Kecak:
Saint Patrick's Breastplate
And from the same evening here is an extract of the 'epic bit' from St Patrick's Breastplate...
Do you know the benefits of singing together with others?
It’s good for your physical health, your well-being and happiness and a great social glue
Around the year 433 Saint Patrick was in trouble
He had broken the pagan law by lighting the Easter fire.
The High King of Ireland, Lóegaire mac Néill, summoned him to Tara. As Patrick had been a slave of the country it was most likely that the summons was to result in the death penalty. Nevertheless, Saint Patrick braved the danger for the chance to secure the king’s permission to evangelise the island.
Placing the mission in God’s hands, Saint Patrick and his companions set forth on Easter Sunday and as they travelled they sang a particular hymn as protection. Saint Patrick suspected that the king’s men were lying in wait to ambush and kill him in the dark forest between Slane and Tara.
The prayerful song they sang is known as Saint Patrick’s “Lorica” - Latin for the breastplate of a Roman soldier and potentially harks back to new testament letter to the Ephesians where Saint Paul writes ‘Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place’. (Eph 6:14)
The story goes that as the soldiers waited to ambush Saint Patrick they only came across a small group of deer which they allowed to pass by. This explains why Saint Patrick's Breastplate is also known as the Deer's Cry. The mission to convert King Lóegaire and his subjects from paganism to Christianity succeeded.
There are many settings of the prayer and one can only wonder what the original musical setting of Patrick's singing was.
The following video is Jean Watson's contemporary setting of a shortened form of the prayer.
This song has been arranged for Canto in time for Saint Patrick’s Day 2025.
The medieval English Cuckoo round
The preserved manuscript of this song was copied around 1261. Although the composer is not known it was possibly written by W. de Wycombe (William of Winchcombe) or perhaps a monk at Reading Abbey. It is the oldest known music featuring six-part harmony.
The musical form is a Rota (latin: "Wheel") a type of Round. If you look carefully at the manuscript you will see a red cross indicating when the next voice (starting at the beginning) should enter.
The story of a world-famous song (with curly hair!)
Imagine you’re a schoolteacher on your end of term break. You’ve just finished your breakfast on Christmas Eve in the year 1818 when there’s a panicked rap on the door.
Bleary-eyed, you open the door to the local young priest who is clutching a piece of paper. “We have a major problem “ he blurts.
So you invite him in and pacing up and down eventually says. “Franz, You can’t play the organ at midnight mass tonight. The river burst its banks last night and although the flood has subsided from the church - the organ is completely ruined.”
Dance of the Monkey King
Part of the ethos of Canto is introducing the choir to the widest variety of music from all kinds of genres, eras and traditions
Let me take you on an exploratory journey of community music from the island of Bali, Indonesia with the Kecak. (pronounced 'Keh-chak")
A wonderful piece of music composed only months before Mozart died
So why did he compose it?
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